USURPATION OF
ECCLESIASTICAL FUNCTIONS AND DELICTS IN THEIR EXERCISE (Cann. 1378 -
1389)

Can. 1378 §1. A
priest who acts against the prescript of ⇒ can. 977
incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.

§2. The following incur a latae sententiae penalty
of interdict or, if a cleric, a latae sententiae penalty of suspension:

1/ a person who attempts the liturgical action of
the Eucharistic sacrifice though not promoted to the sacerdotal order;

2/ apart from the case mentioned in §1, a person
who, though unable to give sacramental absolution validly, attempts to impart
it or who hears sacramental confession.

§3. In the cases mentioned in §2, other penalties,
not excluding excommunication, can be added according to the gravity of the
delict.

Can. 1379 In
addition to the cases mentioned in ⇒ can. 1378, a person
who simulates the administration of a sacrament is to be punished with a just
penalty.

Can. 1380 A
person who celebrates or receives a sacrament through simony is to be punished
with an interdict or suspension.

Can. 1381 §1.
Whoever usurps an ecclesiastical office is to be punished with a just penalty.

§2. Illegitimate retention of a function after its
privation or cessation is equivalent to usurpation.

Can. 1382 A
bishop who consecrates some one a bishop without a pontifical mandate and the
person who receives the consecration from him incur a latae sententiae
excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.

Can. 1383 A
bishop who, contrary to the prescript of ⇒ can. 1015,
ordains without legitimate dimissorial letters someone who is not his subject
is prohibited for a year from conferring the order. The person who has received
the ordination, however, is ipso facto suspended from the order received.

Can. 1384 In
addition to the cases mentioned in ⇒ cann. 1378-1383, a
person who illegitimately performs a priestly function or another sacred
ministry can be punished with a just penalty.

Can. 1385 A
person who illegitimately makes a profit from a Mass offering is to be punished
with a censure or another just penalty.

Can. 1386 A
person who gives or promises something so that someone who exercises a function
in the Church will do or omit something illegitimately is to be punished with a
just penalty; likewise, the one who accepts such gifts or promises.

Can. 1387 A
priest who in the act, on the occasion, or under the pretext of confession
solicits a penitent to sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue is to
be punished, according to the gravity of the delict, by suspension,
prohibitions, and privations; in graver cases he is to be dismissed from the
clerical state.

Can. 1388 §1. A
confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae
excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; one who does so only indirectly
is to be punished according to the gravity of the delict.

§2. An interpreter and the others mentioned in ⇒ can.
983, §2 who violate the secret are to be punished with a just
penalty, not excluding excommunication.

Can. 1389 §1. A
person who abuses an ecclesiastical power or function is to be punished according
to the gravity of the act or omission, not excluding privation of office,
unless a law or precept has already established the penalty for this abuse.

§2. A person who through culpable negligence
illegitimately places or omits an act of ecclesiastical power, ministry, or
function with harm to another is to be punished with a just penalty.